


Smoke Signals

by monaquinn



Series: You're the Only Friend I Need [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Slow Burn, because im evil, god bless their souls, nancy is literally so smart but for some reason can't figure out that robin and steve arent dating, platonic robin and steve DUH, steve is supportive best friend always, the girls are so NERDY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2020-06-30 11:23:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19852138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monaquinn/pseuds/monaquinn
Summary: All that Nancy could conjure up about Robin Buckley was vague facts that didn’t really amount to much anyway. She remembered seeing the girl around once or twice, playing clarinet in the school band or smoking cigarettes on the steps of the school with the drama nerds who wore too much eye-liner and had ugly chipped black nail polish. She was someone who she would crinkle her nose at as she entered Hawkins High every morning, someone Barb would’ve probably said,“just give them a chance, and they’ll surprise you"about. But mostly, Robin was someone who Nancy would never normally give a second thought about.Whatever, It’s not like it mattered anyway.





	1. you are anonymous, i am a concrete wall

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't seen more than a few fics for this ship, and all have been lovely, but i thought i would bite the bullet and write a slow burn multi-chap for this two, because i need it LOL.
> 
> sorry nancy x jonathan, i love you... but ur gonna have to sit this one out HAHA. 
> 
> also IMPORTANT in my brain nancy and robin and jonathan are in the year below steve, if i'm wrong please just bear with me for the sake of this fic
> 
> (title and chapter titles are from smoke signals by phoebe bridgers, bc im gay, duh.)

Nancy Wheeler is so incredibly, absolutely, utterly bored. Somehow in the midst of her new job and saving the world from catastrophic doom she realized that she made no new friends in high school after what happened with Barb. 

When Barb was around, she didn’t need any other friends. Barb was always there with a cheesy joke and plenty of availability to go get ice cream or watch a romantic comedy curled up in Nancy’s bed. Barb was there for boy advice, homework help, and always seemed to have the ability to pacify Mike and his annoying goonies with just a wave of her hand and a kind word. 

God, Nancy _missed her_. 

Now she was alone, with nobody her own age to talk to other than Jonathan, and, she supposed, Steve. However, since her boyfriend moved out of state it wasn’t exactly like she could walk down the street to see him anymore, and hanging out with Steve would be pretty awkward after all that had happened, wouldn’t it? 

He seemed to be happy with his new girlfriend as well, Nancy supposed. Robin Buckley, the girl who helped defeat the mind-flayer during that utterly awful fourth of July that haunted Nancy’s memory with every step she took. She was pretty sure that Robin was going into senior year with her in September, but she wasn’t positive. She had never paid much attention to her before the incident. 

All that Nancy could conjure up about Robin was vague facts that didn’t really amount to much anyway. She remembered seeing the girl around once or twice, playing clarinet in the school band or smoking cigarettes on the steps of the school with the drama nerds who wore too much eye-liner and had ugly chipped black nail polish. She was someone who she would crinkle her nose at as she entered Hawkins High every morning, someone Barb would’ve probably said, _“just give them a chance, and they’ll surprise you” _about. But mostly, Robin was someone who Nancy would never normally give a second thought about.__

__Whatever, It’s not like it mattered anyway._ _

__It’s not that she was mad that Steve had moved on, she really was over him, after all, but it just seemed that everyone around her was picking up the pieces that she continuously kept mulling over. She couldn’t move on, not after everything that happened, especially since the only person who could’ve helped her out of the hole that the events of the past few years had dug packed his stuff into a big moving van and drove away._ _

__All Nancy could do now was sit around her empty house, have nightmares, and do her summer reading. It was the worst possible existence she could’ve ever imagined._ _

__Sometimes, she would call Jonathan. At first, it was like a breath of fresh summer air coming to wash the dust away, but as the days and calls went on her boyfriend seemed to become more progressively unavailable. It wasn’t his fault, of course, he was adjusting to his new life. He had gotten a job at the newspaper in his new town, hopefully, one free of jerk-off bosses and fertilizer eating old ladies, he had joked. During their nightly phone calls that seemed to get shorter and shorter, Jonathan would brief her on the photo stories he was working on, his new friends, his new home, all little pieces of his seemingly bright and shiny world that Nancy couldn’t help but feel that she wasn’t a part of._ _

__She hadn’t lost him, but sometimes it felt like she did._ _

__On one Thursday morning, when the sun shone so annoyingly bright it began to look like a runny egg yolk, Nancy decided that she couldn’t take it anymore. She was going to get up off her ass and do something. Mike was out with his friends, her mother was lounging at the pool, and her father was off doing God knows what. Nancy refused to be the only Wheeler to pace around the house the entire day, staring at the pastel pink walls of her room and praying for the phone to ring. She needed a distraction, and she needed it now._ _

__She supposed she could go to a jazzercise class, a new place had opened a block away from her house after the mall had burned down, but the idea of her in stretch pants hanging around a bunch of middle-aged women repulsed her, and she ditched the idea immediately._ _

__A movie sounded like a good plan. A movie to distract her from the dull, horrifying, metronome that her life had become._ _

__Nancy drove to the family video, using her brand new car that she finally decided to splurge on after Jonathan had moved, and only made it about four feet into the store before her heart stopped beating._ _

__The two figures behind the counter were far too familiar for Nancy’s liking, and what made the matter worse was that they were singing and dancing, seeming all together too at ease after the events of the summer. Steve was using one of his plethora of hairbrushes as a makeshift microphone, bopping his head up and down and singing along to whatever song was playing on the radio in a voice that oddly sounded like a mixture of Kermit the Frog and a muppet. And Buckley - she was singing along, waving her arms in the air, and laughing like there was no tomorrow. When Steve picked the girl up and spun her around to sing the chorus, Nancy decided she couldn’t take their half baked happiness any longer._ _

__“A-hem.” She blurted out, slamming her hands on the glass countertop. It came out harsher than she would’ve liked, but it had the desired affect. Steve’s grip on the girl slackened as he lowered her to the ground, and she immediately crossed her arms and backed away, throwing a callous look at Nancy. She didn’t know why the couple's actions had aggravated her so much, maybe it was her loneliness, the jealousy that they could just carry on when it seemed like her goddamn world had ended._ _

__Stupidly, Nancy blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, “What song is this?”_ _

__Steve gaped, opening and closing his mouth silently like a fish as if he had expected her to come at him with harsher words. Then, a feminine voice rang out, “Huey Lewis, Power of Love. Duh.”_ _

__Nancy’s eyes flitted to Buckley, who was standing behind Steve, with her arms crossed and her face flushed. It looked as if she wasn’t intending on speaking, but the words had streamed out without buffer. Then, she turned on her heel and walked away, pretending to stack movies, leaving Nancy alone with her ex._ _

__“Close your mouth, Steve. You look like a fish.” Nancy stated matter-of-factly. _God, when did she become so mean?__ _

__“Yeah- yeah- uh-hum- yeah.” Steve stammered, running his fingers through his hair, a nervous tick of his that Nancy had picked up on the summer before her junior year. “How have you been?” He asked, a look of concern shining through his eyes._ _

___Terrible_ , she wanted to say. But that wasn’t exactly the best thing she wanted to say to her ex-boyfriend while his new girlfriend was standing ten feet away, presumingly listening to everything she said. It’s not like she wasn’t over Steve or anything, that ship had long sailed, but she wanted to feel in control, she wanted to be strong in front of him and the girl, for some reason. “To be honest- not so good.” She admitted, the floor suddenly becoming very interesting. _ _

__“Yeah… me neither.” Steve responded, reaching out to touch her hand from the other side of the counter. The two stood there for a brief moment until the silence became so deafening that Steve continued, turning the conversation away from such dire topics. “So- what brings you to the Family Video, where you can bring the good times home?” She quirked an eyebrow at the slogan and he flushed. “Sorry, company policy.”_ _

__“Um-” Nancy began, looking for the right combination of words that didn’t make her look quite as pathetic as she felt. “I’m looking for a movie. Um…to distract me.”_ _

__Steve suddenly looked like he would rather eat the pavement than be talking to her right now. “This is kind of embarrassing, seeing as I work here and stuff, but I know little to nothing about movies, and can much less recommend you a good one. When I get upset by- you know- all the monster alien shit I honestly just watch whatever Dustin is watching, and I don’t think you would like that very much, because all he watches is stuff that features monster alien shit. Robin typically handles all that kind of stuff…” He turns and waves her over. “Hey, Robin! Can you help Nancy pick out something to watch?”_ _

__Robin nods, plasters on a smile that seems entirely too sympathetic for Nancy’s liking, and says “So I assume you want a chick-flick?”_ _

__Nancy knows that somebody like Robin Buckley probably has never seen a romance movie in her entire life, and most likely smokes weed on her couch while watching film-noir and talks about the meaning of life or whatever, but it’s not like Nancy feels the need to impress her or anything so she admits her weakness and says “Yeah, I guess I do.”_ _

__Robin nods smugly as if she's proud that she pegged Nancy right, and heads over to the romance section. She's wearing these cut-off jean shorts and an annoyingly cropped maroon t-shirt that says the name of some band that Nancy has never heard of, and she can’t help but think that Robin looks cool, despite the fact that she's never associated the word with the girl before._ _

__The silence was too much to handle as Robin rifled through the movies on the shelf, and Nancy wracked her brain for something to talk about, no matter how significant. Robin did well in school, right? That was always a good topic for small talk. “You’re going into senior year with me, right?”_ _

__“Yeah.”_ _

__“Are you in Mrs. Johnson’s Ap Lit class?”_ _

__Robin nods, “Yeah, I think so?”_ _

__“Cool.” God this was awkward. “I know it’s probably stupid to ask if you did the summer reading because nobody ever does the summer reading, but did you do the summer reading?” Nancy said, in probably the least verbose sentence that has ever graced her lips._ _

__Suddenly, Robin’s bright blue eyes meet hers, seeming alert. “Yes of course! Well, it was a re-read. I just really love Mary Shelley. Did you know she was only seventeen when she wrote Frankenstein? I think about that, like, all the time. She was our age but wrote one of the most remarkable pieces of fiction ever created. It’s insane! Sorry, I’m totally rambling.” She blushes._ _

__“I think about that a lot too!” Nancy responds, “She was so young and able to capture so perfectly all of womanhood. I know that technically the monsters a man, but he just feels so feminine and the way he experiences injustice and isolation is just such-”_ _

__“A perfect metaphor for sexism.” Robin finishes, a bright smile on her cherry cola colored lips._ _

__Nancy laughs, a weight that had seemed so pressing just a few moments ago being lifted off her shoulders. “Exactly.”_ _

__Robin looks away for a moment, her face turning a hue comparable to a tomato. “So, the movie. Um- I’m not really a big fan of romance movies due to the fact that I- whatever, it’s not important. I just don’t like them.” Nancy sympathizes, if she spent every day dating Steve, who was always on factor-fifty with the cheese, she would probably not want to escape with more romance. “However, The Breakfast Club is a really good film, have you seen it?”_ _

__“No, But my brother took his girlfriend on a date to go see it! She- El, I don’t know if you remember her from the mall, said it was pretty good!”_ _

__Robin tilts her head back in laughter. “How could I forget El from the mall? Anyways, the film is good, I would totally recommend. Robin stamp of approval from me.”_ _

__Nancy takes the movie from the other girls hands, and is about to turn and walk away, but her instincts are telling her that she desperately needs a friend and Robin Buckley who is probably dating Steve Harrington and waxes poetically about Mary Shelley doesn’t seem like too bad an option so Nancy opens her mouth and says, “Would you maybe want to come over and watch it with me tonight?”_ _

__Robin grins. “I get off at eight.”_ _


	2. we'll watch tv while the lights on the street put all the stars to death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long to write. i'm a mess i guess.

At eight-fifteen that night Robin Buckley is standing on Nancy’s doorstep, drenched in the rain that decided to torrential downpour about an hour prior. 

“Did you walk?” Nancy asks as Robin creates a puddle the size of The Quarry on Karen’s precious hardwood floor. 

“No, rode my bike.” The girl replies as if it was the most casual thing in the world, kicking off her combat boots. 

Nancy furrows her brow. “I could’ve driven you if you needed. It was me who wanted to hang out anyway, you probably had better things to do and-”

Robin raises her hands in protest. “It’s okay. I didn’t wanna leave my bike at the store. Keith, our store manager, would probably write me up for like ‘abandoning company policy by means of bike loitering,’ or something else really stupid like that.” She laughs. “And I had nothing better to do tonight, trust me. I don’t get out much.” She can’t help but admire the way that Robin admits that, like it was no big deal to not have plans on a summer night, passing it off with a laugh and a shrug. Nancy wishes she could be nonchalant like that, not giving a damn about what other people thought. “Besides, the fresh air, despite the rain, helps me clear my mind. It’s been kinda rough… after the… you know.” Robin casts a faraway look to the ground, and Nancy supposes for the first time that maybe she wasn’t the only one in this town still haunted. 

“I get it.” She replies simply, not wanting to say too much. 

Wringing the water out of her hair, Robin shrugs and replies, “I’m gonna be okay though. Steve’s been helping a lot.” 

This sends a pang into Nancy’s chest. When she was dating Steve, he was about as useless as a bag of bricks, crumpling all his feelings up into a tight ball in his chest, making Nancy feel like her grief made her crazy. However, she doesn’t say a word because offending her possible new friend by insulting her boyfriend before she even makes it past the foyer sounds like a bad idea. Swallowing the hurt that lingers in the bottom of her throat, Nancy smiles and just says, “How are things going between you guys?” 

Robin sputters like a broken car engine. “Um, what?” 

“Duh, your relationship?” Nancy teases. “How long have you guys been dating? Don’t worry about offending me, I’m long over Steve.” 

Much to Nancy’s surprise, Robin cackles. “God no! Steve and I aren’t dating, we are just friends.” Robin pauses for a second, looking as if she just said the wrong thing. “ _Best_ friends.” She adds quickly. 

To Nancy, this seems like a steaming pile of bullshit. Based on the few times she had seen the couple interact, she was almost positive they were romantically involved. The way Robin looked at Steve, it was as if she had trusted her entire world in his hands. That could only come through close contact. Despite this, she knows she has to brush it off, Robin will confess when she's ready, Nancy tells herself. 

“Do you want to watch upstairs? I have a TV in my room,” she announces, changing the subject. “I made popcorn.”

Robin nods enthusiastically and the two head up to her room. She suddenly feels embarrassed, her room is too pink, too girlish, not the room of a girl who shoots guns and defeat’s aliens from a paranormal universe. It’s a dichotomy that Nancy has never noticed, but Robin seems to pick up on it immediately, giving Nancy a look, all raised eyebrows and smirks as if to say ‘ _I see you for what you really are.’_ It gives Nancy a strange feeling, something mixed with exhilaration and anxiety, that she can’t quite tell if she loves or hates as she goes to pop the VCR in. 

“Where should I sit?” Robin asks as Nancy pats the space next to her on the bed, and suddenly the other girl has a look on her face as if she's going to throw up and pass out all at the same time. 

Robin’s voice goes very quiet as she speaks, “You sure?” 

Nancy nods, of course, she could sit on the bed. She was probably just trying to be considerate, worrying about getting the sheets wet from the rain, Nancy logically concludes. Robin meekly slides onto the frilly bed sheets, leaving a considerable amount of space between them. _Huh, guess she really doesn’t like me then,_ Nancy thinks solemnly. 

Once the movie began things got a little better. Nancy couldn’t help but think that the main girl, Robin said that the actresses name was Molly Ringwald, looked just a little bit like Barb. Her throat felt a little dry as her eyes drifted to the bulletin board, where a picture of them laughing was tacked down front and center. Luckily, Robin’s snippy comments and dry jokes were quick to distract Nancy from her lingering sadness, and she found herself laughing along with the girl. 

“It’s so ridiculous that he only likes her when she puts on makeup and a silly dress, like what the fuck,” Robin remarks, shoveling popcorn into her mouth. 

Nancy agrees wholeheartedly, “It’s just stupid. Like why does she have to change who she is for him to like her?” 

“I dunno.” She shrugs, watching the figures embrace on screen. “I guess the director, his name is John Hughes by the way,did it to make her seem more inviting I guess. I like her better the way she starts off though. She looks more like me.” 

Suddenly Robins chipped black nail polish and dark lipstick become slightly more apparent. She was dressed sort of like the character, all hard edges and brooding looks, but Nancy thought she was just a big softie on the inside, the fictional girl along with the real one sitting beside her. She wants to say that, but just responds with, “Hm. I guess so. So I’m the princess then?” as the credits play.

“You bet your sweet ass you’re the princess then.” Robin laughs, gently hitting her on the shoulder, finally inching closer. “I mean, you are pretty badass though…so it might be a bit of a coin toss. I think-”

Robin is interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. Nancy hops up, unhooking the line and is met with Jonathan’s voice. He quickly says hello and begins to rattle off about some cute thing that El said about Mike today, and Nancy feels a little disheartened when she has to say, “Um, actually now isn’t the best time. I have a friend over.” 

His voice lights up, “Really? That’s awesome, who?” She appreciates how supportive he has been, trying his best to understand her loneliness since his departure. 

“Her names Robin, I don’t know if you remember her… she was at t _he mall_.” Her voice tenses at the end of the sentence, it’s like she can’t say those two simple words without chills ricocheting over her entire body. 

“Yeah. Steve’s girlfriend, right?”

“Yep.” 

“Cool.” Jonathan says, his voice beginning to fade away, “Call you tomorrow then?” 

After a hasty goodbye, she hangs up and turns to Robin, who is examining the laces on her converse sneakers, clearly trying her hardest not to seem nosy and snoop through the room, which Nancy greatly appreciates. She doesn’t want to open up a conversation about Barb, whose presence is overpowering here, not now. 

Abruptly Nancy is aware of exactly how late it is. “Oh my god, it’s like eleven at night.” She exclaims. She doesn’t want Robin biking home at night, not after what happened to Will. Of course, she could offer to drive, but driving at night makes her insides queasy, filled with irrational fears of mind flayers and Demogorgons. “You should sleep over.” She declares, “I won’t have it any other way.” 

Robin raises her eyebrows a little, opening her mouth to defy, but eventually excepts defeat. “Alright. Um- where? And I don’t have anything to sleep in, can I borrow something?”

“We can share the bed, and I can lend you some shorts and a t-shirt, don’t worry.” 

Moments later Robin looks a little meek standing in Nancy’s lacy pink shorts and a bright t-shirt with a picture of the care bears roasting marshmallows over a fire on it. Nancy can’t help but fall on her back, laughing at the tough girl's image being shattered. “You look ridiculous!” She guffaws. 

Robin flops down next to her. “This is so. Not. Me. But better than the Scoops Ahoy uniform, so I can’t really complain.” She crosses her arms, trying to feign annoyance but can’t hide the mirth hiding beyond her eyes. Soon they are both cackling, full-body laughs, that continue until Nancy turns off the lights. 

Sleeping has always been a challenge. Even when she was a little girl, Nancy would get nightmares of witches and goblins and would wander down the hall, eventually stopping at her parents looming door, wondering whether or not it was a good idea to wake them up. Now the goblins were larger and very real, and there was no option of refuge in Mr. and Mrs. Wheelers arms. So, Nancy preferred lying awake in bed, hoping that the darkness of night would eventually embrace her and she would succumb to dreamless slumber. However, this night was exceptionally hard, with a foreign body just a few feet away. Robin offered to sleep on the floor, but she wouldn’t take that as an answer, and much to her guest's discomfort, persisted. 

Eventually, after an hour of tossing and turning, Nancy accepted that this night would join the long list of sleepless ones that had occurred over this summer. She closed her eyes and tried to think of something to ween her off until dawn. Newspaper stories she could write, what she thought of The Breakfast Club, and for some strange reason, Robin.

Robin, with her callous glares and hard exterior that Nancy just wanted to break through. Robin dancing in the video shop with Steve, Robin throwing a firework from the top of the escalator, Robin, who suddenly thrashing next to her. 

A nightmare. Nancy knew the signs well. The heavy breathing, perspired skin, and soft mumbles of cries for help. With a sudden need to be of aid, Nancy shakes her until she awakes with a jolt, sitting straight up as if someone has electrocuted her. 

Robin begins to cry, full-body sobs that wrack her small frame, and Nancy feels hopeless for the umpteenth time that day. Once Robin begins to realize her surroundings, she shakily wipes her eyes, admits a loud hiccup, and begins to apologize profusely. 

“I’m so sorry. Oh my god, I- I didn’t mean to wake you. I get these dreams all the time, it’s like I’m back there- and I just… Never mind. I’m sorry. Fuck!” She buries her head in her hands, exhaling deeply. 

Nancy can see that Robins still crying by the way the girl's shoulders shake, ever so subtlety, every ten seconds or so. Then, mustering up all her courage, Nancy takes a deep breath and says, “I get them too.” 

A pair of bright blue eyes, wet with tears, peer through Robins' fingers. “You- you do?” 

“Of course.” She sighs, her heart pounding. “I have been for years now, but I try not to talk about it. It makes it worse, not talking about it.”

“That's what Steve says too,” Robin says, wiping her eyes, and if it were spoken at any other moment, that comment would’ve bothered Nancy, _just a little bit._

She doesn’t know how to approach this, not in the slightest. Nancy even can’t calm herself down after a terrible dream, let alone someone else. “So… what happened? In the dream? If you want to talk about it, of course.” She tentatively asks, not trying to pry. 

Robin shudders. “I- I was back in the Ru-Russian facility, and they were tort-torturing us a-again.” She speaks slowly, hiccuping between every other word or so. 

This draws a blank in Nancy’s head. Russian torture facility? She didn’t know. Then again, that night everyone had been so preoccupied with their own bullshit that they didn’t have time to convene and tell all of their individual horror stories. 

“Russian torture facility?” She speaks gently, rubbing Robin’s back.

“There was that secret facility under the mall that we told you guys about. Stupidly Steve, Dustin, Erica, and I broke in. Well- we kinda f-forced Erica into it.” Hiccup. “They caught us, and obviously we sacrificed ourselves, Steve and I, to save the kids. They tied us up a-and they took us into this tiny room.” Hiccup. “They kept questioning us bu-but we had nothing to say and oh my God they kept hitting Steve and I just remember screaming, trying to make them s-stop, stop hurting him but they wouldn’t.” Hiccup. “And I spit in this Russians face.” Hiccup. Hiccup. “Then they took out this fucking bone saw and- Oh my God, Nancy, it-it was so… it was so ba-bad.” She sputters out the last words, her body convulsing back into sobs, and Nancy feels her heart break, just a little. 

She can’t find any other words to say than “Oh my God.” She wants to apologize, but she knows deep down that those weren’t the right words. Apologizing did nothing, not in these types of situations. So she just wraps the girl, her newfound friend, into a long, tight, bone-crushing hug. 

Robin nods, “Yeah. You got any shared trauma?” She cracks a weak smile, still clearly shattering underneath. 

Nancy talks quietly of the scene in the hospital that had occurred at around the same time, and how sometimes when she closes her eyes, she's back there, looking death in the eye. Sometime during the middle of her story, she finds herself crawling into Robin’s arms, muttering something along the lines of‘contact helps,’ and only drifting off once she's sure that Robin is fast asleep, safe and sound in her embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay they cuddled! please leave a comment if you liked it, they mean so much to me <3


	3. i buried a hatchet, it's coming up lavender

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha... so i did not update this for moooonths. this little pandemic thing has got me writing again. i hope people are still reading stranger things fics! lmao.

When Nancy had imagined her penultimate year of high school it was a bleak picture. No friends, maybe a part time job, straight A’s, and calling Jonathan once a week on the pink rotary phone on her bedside table. 

However, she was receiving something much different due to the one and only Robin Buckley. 

Surprisingly, Robin, a band-geek with punk undertones, had become Nancy’s close, _well only_ , friend. 

After that night in August when they had watched The Breakfast Club together, the two girls had become attached at the hip. They would go see movies at the new cinema that had opened since the malls closing or “borrow” (as Robin loosely calls it) rentals from the Family Video and watch them in Nancy’s room, curled up on he blankets eating popcorn. They would listen to new records, do AP lit homework at the library, and even one time painted each others nails. Nancy could remember the look of fear in Robins eyes as she unveiled the pink nail polish, which Robin surprisingly wore for a week despite protests that she hated it.

Sometimes, when the credits were rolling, their conversations would venture into darker territory. Nancy knew about the times Robin had spent in the Russian facility, and Robin knew all of Nancy’s baggage too. She told Robin about the rat-fertilizer and the dark hospital rooms, but also the surface level stuff. It was nice to tell another woman about what had happened during the internship. How the men looked at her as if her brain was filled with nothing, how their hurtful nickname of Nancy Drew stung. Robin understood in a way that Jonathan never seemed too. Robin was there. 

They did everything together, at least, when Robin wasn’t with _Steve. Which was a lot more than Nancy liked, for some reason._

It wasn’t that Robin was blowing her off for the floppy haired boy, he just seemed to take up more of Robins days than she did. When she would call to ask to hang out she was often met with a “ _Sorry, I’m doing something with Steve today.”_ Nancy just didn’t understand what she saw in him. When she was with Steve, he was the perfect it-boy to her preppy image, but both of them had shed their toxic high school stereotypes in the past year. Now, it didn’t seem like Steve did much of anything. In Nancy’s eyes, Robin deserved better.

It also didn’t help that Robin still wouldn’t admit to Nancy that they were dating. Nancy had pondered on the possibility that they were just hooking up, but shouldn’t Robin trust her enough to tell her that? Nancy had told her every little thing about her and Jonathan’s relationship, albeit rocky it was, but hadn’t heard a peep from the darker haired girl.

_God, it was infuriating._ Especially on this particular Thursday morning. 

When Nancy drove up to the Buckley’s residence to drive Robin to school, Robin was already sitting on the curb. She was scowling, her arms crossed tightly across her chest, hair disheveled, eyes red. She wore no makeup, which was unusual for her. Nancy couldn’t recall a time she had seen her friend without her dark eyeliner and cherry red chap-stick. 

Robin enters the car swiftly, slouching in the passengers seat. “I’m not going to school today.” She states, clearly not wanting to elaborate further on the subject. “I would really appreciate it if you would drop me off at Steve’s.”

It took all of Nancy’s willpower not to slam on the breaks and to start driving to the Harrington household. She can’t believe that Robin, the only person in this entire Godforsaken town that she trusts, prefers Steve Harrington over her. This piece of knowledge stings, a knife lodged in her heart. 

After what seemed like a millennia, Nancy, still mulling over her thoughts, pulls into Steve’s driveway. Robin mutters something that sounds along the lines of a thank you, and reaches for her unzipped backpack, in which Nancy can see a toothbrush and a change of clothes. 

_Robin was staying with Steve?_

Before she can think twice, Nancy reaches out and stops Robin’s hand from opening the car door. “You know,” she stumbles, “I think of you as a close friend.” 

Robin doesn’t respond, her eyes darting to her worn-down combat boots. 

“Actually, I consider you my best fucking friend.” Nancy reiterates, her eyes beginning to tear. “And I consider it really fucking hurtful that you don’t tell me anything that’s going on. I know your upset about something, but you clearly don’t trust me enough to tell me. You know what, Robin? I don’t care. _Fine_. Go cry to your boyfriend because I guess he’s the only person you actually give a damn about.” 

Robin wipes a stray tear from her eyes, finally breaking her silence. She speaks soft and low, but a tremor of anger is lurking underneath. “I guess thats why they called you Nancy Drew. All you do is poke around in other peoples business.” 

In a flash of movement, Robin grabs her bag, and storms out of the car. She was gone, disappearing into the Harrington’s house faster than Nancy could open her mouth to snap back. 

Nancy slams her face against the steering wheel, a loud honk ricocheting around her. As much as she tries, she can’t hold back the avalanche of tears. Robin had used something sensitive to hurt her, burrowing the knife deeper and deeper into her heart. 

_She wanted to talk to Jonathan._

Deciding school wasn’t on the agenda for today, Nancy makes a swift u-turn and heads back to her house. She runs up the stairs and dials Jonathan’s number, known by heart, into the phone. He picks up on the third ring. “Hey,” he says, “I’m sorry but I can’t talk right now. I need to drive Will and El to school.” 

“Can your mom do it? I really want you to stay on the line right now.” She pleads. She feels pathetic, asking her boyfriend to talk to her. But they hardly even spoke anymore, and at this moment Nancy feels like everything is collapsing in on her. She needs someone to hold on too. 

His voice quickly turns to panic. “Did they come back? Is anyone hurt?” 

Suddenly, everything became clear. Jonathan didn’t care for her anymore, and she didn’t care for him. Their entire relationship had crumbled from the distance, the only bridge leaving them connected being the stupid monsters. The monsters had taken everything from them. Their wasn’t an ounce of love left in their hearts. 

She takes a deep breath and says, “We need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so finally the straights are out of the picture! now we can get our sapphic on.


	4. you must've been looking for me, sending smoke signals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have read my other works you know i have a THING for steven & robin friendship, so i love this chapter. my babies.

In the span of a day, Nancy Wheeler is short of a best friend and a boyfriend. 

_God, this sucks._

At least she knows, deep down, that her break up with Jonathan was a long time coming. It was like the tide going out to sea, inevitable. They weren’t strong enough to do long distance, she has always known this, even though she had tried to tell herself otherwise in the past. 

Nancy flops down on her pink covers, wiping her bleary eyes. She can remember better times here, like Robin making insightful comments about women in Hollywood as they poked fun at Blue Lagoon on their 17th re-watch. Robin covering her ears in mock-disgust as Nancy blasted Lovergirl by Teena Marie. Robin trying on Nancy’s frilliest dresses, spinning across the room and _RobinRobinRobin._

For some reason, unbeknownst to her, she can only think of the loss of her friend, not the loss of her boyfriend. Nancy shot up, deciding that she may lose Jonathan today, but she wouldn’t Robin suffer the same fate. She had known the pain of losing Barb, a loss out of her control, but she didn’t have to experience the same pain with Robin. She can fix this friendship. 

As if on autopilot, Nancy gets up, walks down the stairs, and gets back into her car. She knows Robin and Steve work at the Family Video after school on Thursday’s, and no matter what was going on in her life, Robin wouldn’t turn down the chance to make the money she needed to go to college. She would be there, Nancy just knows it. 

When Nancy arrives at the store, she waits in the car for at least a solid ten minutes. The Family Video sign looms ahead of her, making her stomach twist and turn. What if this was irreparable? What if one stupid fight had caused her to lose her friend forever? Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Nancy walks into the store. 

She was met with Keith’s droll expression. He looks her up and down, makes a failing attempt at a wink, and says “If you are looking for your buddies, they’re in the back room. Haven’t come out all day. God, I get paid too much for this.”

Without even giving him a second glance, she makes a b-line to the break room. She had been in there before, when she would go visit Robin at work (the day’s she didn’t share a shift with Steve). The two girls once made smores in the microwave. Nancy smiles at the fond memories, ignoring the bile that was coming up her throat. 

The door to the break room was left ajar, and Nancy can hear Steve and Robins voices clearly if she stands close to it. 

“Thank you so much for doing this for me,” Robin says, her voice taking a softer tone than Nancy is used to hearing. 

“You know I’d do anything for you.” Steve replies, like it’s the easiest thing in the world. 

_Yuck._

“So, are you going to tell me exactly what happened?” Steve asks, “I mean I know they are a couple of douchebags, but what pushed you over the edge?”

Robin lets out a huff. “Nothing pushed _me_ over the edge, _they_ kicked me out.” 

Nancy hears a shuffling of papers, Steve clearly knocking over whatever he was pretending to work on. “They what?” 

“Do I need to repeat myself Dingus? My parents kicked me out.” 

“Did they find out?” Steve asks. 

_Find out what?_

“They found out all right.” Robin replies. “It’s my fault. For Mrs. Johnson’s class she made us write this stupid poem expressing our feelings or whatever and I left my rough draft, which I totally thought I would be the only person to ever see, on top of my desk. My mom found it, and today when I came downstairs for breakfast they told me they never wanted to see me again.” She sniffles, and Nancy can hear her wiping her eyes furiously. 

“Oh, Rob.” Steve says, and there was a silence for a long while. Nancy assumes they are hugging, unless they are really quiet kissers. She feels like a trespasser, invading a private moment. If she had known why Robin was so upset this morning, she would have been nicer. But why would Robin’s parents kick her out? Nancy wracks her brain of absolutely everything she knew about the girl and continuously draws a blank. Steve seemed to know on instinct though. Was Robin pregnant? Nancy immediately kicks the thought away. Robin wasn’t stupid enough to not use a condom. Maybe Steve was, but not Robin. “You can stay with me in the guest room. It’s no problem. You know my parents are never home anyway.” 

“Thank you Steve. I love you.” 

“I love you too, shit-head.” 

Letting curiosity get the better of her, Nancy inches closer to the crack in the door, peering inside. Robin sat, perched on the break room table, her knees drawn tightly to her chest. Steve is standing, his hand placed softly on her shoulder. A scatter of new membership papers fluttered across the floor. It was a moment of tenderness that Nancy hates herself for secretly invading, but she just can’t stop herself. 

“So,” Steve drawls, never the one to like silence, “You and Fancy Nancy got into a fight?”  Nancy wrinkles her nose at the nickname Steve had often called her while they were dating. It wasn’t one she was fond of, but it was certainly better than Nancy Drew. 

Robin sighs, picking at her fingernail polish. “It’s technically my fault. She wanted to know why I was upset this morning- and I just kind of snapped at her. Well she was nasty first, but she had reason to be. At least I think she did. Yeah.” 

“As much as I should be happy that the end of your friendship with Nancy means I get you all to myself,” Steve jokes, “You really should try and fix this. I see how happy Nancy makes you.” 

Robin lets out a hot breath of air, running her fingers through her messily highlighted locks. “I guess you could say that.” 

“Whadda’ you mean? ‘I guess you could say that?’ I see the way you guys look at each other. You’re close! Really close.” Steve ruffles Robin’s hair. Then, upon Robin giving him a pointed look, his whole demeanor changes. “Ohhhh. I get it. _You like her._ ” 

“Took you long enough.” mumbles Robin. “I mean, I don’t think Nancy would care if she knew I was you know…” 

“Gay?” Steve supplies, and Nancy’s heart begins to pound so fast she feels like it’s going to fall out of her chest. 

Robin retorts back easily, as if the conversation about her sexuality had been one conversed with Steve a hundred times. “Thank you Mr. Dictionary. I mean, sure, she’d care, but I don’t think she would shun me or whatever. She’d probably be uncomfortable with it all and hang out with me less and less until our friendship fizzled out, but she wouldn’t outright be mean. It’s probably best that I cut it off. Less hard feelings this way. Plus, Steve, it hurt worse than _Tammy_.” 

“To be fair, Nancy Wheeler is a lot cooler than Tammy Thompson.”

“You can say that again. It’s okay, Really. It’s for the better if I just stop being friends with her now. I felt like such a creep-o whenever we would hang out, share her bed and stuff. Not that I was doing anything, just like an unwelcome presence. 

The gears in Nancy’s head are spinning at a million miles per hour, pulling her mind in every direction. But before she can come to a clear conclusion, the door swings open and she is standing face to face with Steve Harrington. She was caught. 

She hears Robin anxiously call out her name, but anything else fizzled out under Steve’s loud, “What the _fuck_ do you think you’re doing here?” 

“I-I…” Nancy stumbles, “I came here to talk to Robin.”

“Well I don’t think standing outside the door spying on a PRIVATE conversation is ‘talking to Robin,’ Nancy.” Steve blurts out. She had never seen him like this before in normal conversation, he has this aura around him, an aura she had only seen on days when it felt like the world was going to end. It is a rapt intensity, a passion to protect those he cares about. 

Faintly, she hears Robin in the background say, “Steve, lay off of her.” But he ignores her call. He takes one final look at Nancy, and slams the door in her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only one chapter left!


	5. all of our problems, i’m gonna solve them, with you riding shot-gun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i sing along to all the chapter titles as i write them :/

Nancy doesn't know where to go. She’s been driving around the streets of Hawkins for what seems like hours, her mind racing at a million miles a minute. After Steve had kicked her out of the video store for spying, the car felt like the only safe space to think. She couldn’t just go home after something like this. Not after something this big. To make matters worse, it was starting to rain.

Robin was _gay._ A _lesbian._ The words feel foreign to Nancy, uncharted territory. She had always known that homosexual people existed, but talking about them seemed forbidden. A whisper at the dinner table or an offhand remark. It suddenly occurs to her, she never visualized the picture fully. Gay people existed, and they were every bit like everyone else. 

Her (possibly former) best friend is a lesbian. Even though she assumed it would, it doesn’t bother Nancy a bit. In fact, it makes Robin all the more intriguing. She thinks of Robin’s mirthful smile, her laugh that that can make anyone feel warm inside, and her lollipop lips, bright and red. She wonders what it would be like to kiss those lips. 

Suddenly, everything makes sense. Nancy, in an instant, understands. If Robin likes her, then she likes Robin back. 

It wasn’t something that she needs to contemplate in the moment. The fact of the matter is that she wants to kiss Robin, and Nancy is very close to losing her entirely. She decides that the personal crisis can come later, but right now she has to devote all her energy into getting the girl. 

Before Nancy could even stop to think, she finds herself parked in the Harrington’s perpetually vacant driveway, and marching up to the large red door. She had to ring the doorbell four times before Steve answers. 

When Steve opens the door, the first thing that Nancy notices is that the place reeks of weed. The second thing is that he’s glaring at her. Steve takes a quick glance behind him to make sure that Robin doesn’t see, and steps out onto the stoop, shutting the door behind him. 

“What are you doing here?” he whispers, clearly not the happiest to see her. 

“To talk to Robin, obviously.” She retorts back. 

Steve sighs, acting as if speaking to her is the most painful thing he’s ever experienced. “Has it ever, I don’t know, occurred to you that maybe Robin doesn’t want to speak to you?” He asks. 

She retorts back, mimicking his tone. “Has it ever, I don’t know, occurred to you that Robin can speak for herself?” 

He glowers. “Nancy. I think at this point in our lives we both know each other very well. However, a lot of me has changed. I would do anything for that girl. Absolutely anything. And- and if you hurt her, Nancy, I will never speak to you again.” 

She can tell by his tone that Steve, perhaps for the first time in his life, is being genuine. If she wasn’t so desperate right now, she probably would’ve admired that fact that he had actually developed a bond with someone that was stronger than a desire to be adored. 

She can feel something wet on her cheek but she isn’t sure if she's crying or it’s the light drizzle of rain coming down. “I’m not going to hurt her Steve. And, if I do, I can give you my word that it would never be intentional.” 

He bites his lip, grappling with the decision. “Alright. And I’m only saying that because its her choice if she wants to speak to you or not. I’m not her keeper.” He re-enters the house, and a few moments later, Robin appears.

She is wearing her favorite pair of jeans, despite Nancy always commenting that they are about a size too big for the girl, and one of Steve’s t-shirts that Nancy remembers from when they were dating. It’s striped with a peter-pan collar, and Robin pulls it off much better than Steve ever did, Nancy thinks. Her eyes are red, but Nancy can’t tell if it’s from the weed or crying. She hopes it’s not the latter. 

“Hey.” Robin begins, speaking shyly. 

“Hi.”

Robin cuts right to the chase. “So… how much did you hear?” 

“All of it.” Nancy feels embarrassed to admit it, but she has to tell the truth.

“Oh.” 

“You could’ve told me, you know.” Nancy begins, but then quickly realizes it was the wrong thing to say. Her parents had just kicked her out for God’s sake. “But I understand why you didn’t.”

Robin leans against the door somewhat ungracefully, and Nancy is suddenly grateful and ungrateful at the same time for how small Steve’s front stoop is. “So, you’re not like weirded out or anything?” She seems skeptical. 

“It’s not something you see around here every day, to be honest, but no. I’m not weirded out.” Nancy admits. Robin bites her lip, and Nancy allows her eyes to wander to it. 

Robin is just _so_ pretty, she thinks. It’s an ungraceful type of beauty, nothing falling perfectly into place but somehow all the better for it. Like the way her hair messily frames her face, drawing all the attention to her bright blue eyes, which are looking to the ground right now. Nancy snaps out of her thoughts and is suddenly aware of just how deafening the silence is between them. 

“Robin?” she asks. 

“Yeah?”

“I know that this is really out of the blue, but can I kiss you? To be honest, I don’t exactly know what I’m doing… but, if I heard you correctly today, and I think that I did, you may possibly want to kiss me back? It just seems so right and you are like so pretty and I-“ 

Robin cuts off her unfortunate ramble with a kiss. 

It’s soft, simple, and short. But there’s a warmth to it, one that begins at Nancy’s feet and finally settles in her stomach. It’s a fizzy feeling, like drinking cream soda at the diner on a Saturday night. It’s a joyful feeling, like dancing in her room singing along to well-loved record. It may just be Nancy’s new favorite feeling in the entire word. 

When their lips finally part, Nancy leans in again for more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's finished you guys! thank you SO MUCH to everyone who read this. if you have the time please leave a comment on what you would like to see me write next, or just to say hi. i have a lot of time on my hands during these scary and troubling times and writing has really helped things seem a little bit better. i'm thinking some more steve and robin stuff? idk.


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